Article excerpt

Lori Pasteryk isn't sure where she and her 12-year-old son will
sleep Monday night.

That's the deadline for Pasteryk, 40, of West View to find
housing, since her apartment was destroyed in a fire this week.

"I've lost everything," Pasteryk said. "It's very hard, and it's
going to be even harder when Shawn realizes what all he's lost. I
know it's just material things, but it's those little things that
make life easier when you're 12."

The Pasteryks are among 15 families displaced by two fires a Ross
man is accused of setting in their apartment building.

Police said smoke and water damage was so severe that Mechone,
the company that owns the apartments on Center Avenue, will not be
able to allow residents to return for about three months. Management
for Mechone declined comment.

Police have accused Lance Neal Haas of setting fires late Sunday
in the basement of the apartment building, including one outside
Pasteryk's door. Haas is being held on $200,000 bond at the
Allegheny County Jail.

Pasteryk's son, Shawn Victorian, was one of two youths who
reported the fire to 911. …